Arrangement in or relating to a terrace floor and a method for the production of same

ABSTRACT

An arrangement of a terrace floor in front of a set back story of a building, which floor is provided with a layer of thermal insulation underneath. A waterproof layer is arranged between the thermal insulation and the terrace floor has an air space in communication with the atmosphere outside the building at least on its top surface and possibly below its base. The terrace floor is separated from the floor inside by a gap. A waterproof sheet or the like is placed in the gap, running from the waterproof layer, over the insulating material below the terrace floor, upwards through the gap and up inside the facing of the exterior wall above.

United States Patent [151 3,702,045 Selvaag 1 Nov. 7, 1972 [54]ARRANGEMENT IN OR RELATING TO 152,996 7/1874 Hoyt ..52/302 X A TERRACEFLOOR AND A METHOD 2,191,522 2/1940 Eckert ..52/62 X FOR THE PRODUCTIONOF SAME 2,422,010 6/1947 Goff ..52/62 X [72] Inventor: Olav selvaag,Holmenveie 19 3,313,069 4/1967 Jackson ..52/95 X Oslo Norway I PrimaryExaminer-Price C. Faw, Jr. Flledi Jan. 18, 1971 Attorney-Larson, Taylor& Hinds 21 A 1. No.: 107,360 1 pp 57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign ApplicationP i it Data An arrangement of a terrace floor in front of a set backstory of a building, which floor 15 provided with a 1970 Norway "281/70layer of thermal insulation underneath. A waterproof 1970 Norway"4611/70 layer is arranged between the thermal insulation and theterrace floor has an air space in communication [52] US. Cl. ..52/58,52/95, 5522770451, with the atmosphere outside the il at least on itstop surface and possibly below its base. The terrace [51] Int.l Cl..E04d l/36, E04d 3/38 floor is Separated from the floor inside by a sapA [58] Fledof Search gg 2 waterproof sheet or the like is placed in thegap, 9 7 running from the waterproof layer, over the insulating [56] R fr n ct d material below the terrace floor, upwards through the e e e gapand up inside the facing of the exterior wall UNITED STATES PATENTSabove- 137,740 4/1873 Vaughan ..52/302 Tif iiiiiiiir 10 a m 5 eviewe "le E ARRANGEMENT IN OR RELATING TO A TERRACE FLOOR AND A METHOD FOR THEPRODUCTION OF SAME The present invention relates to an arrangement in aterrace floor in front of a set back story of a building, which floor isprovided with a layer of thermal insulation underneath and where awaterproof layer arranged between the thermal insulation and the terracefloor has an air space in free connection with the atmosphere outsidethe building on its top surface and possibly below its base, and wherethe terrace floor is separated from the floor inside by a gap.

The invention represents a further development of the terrace flooraccording to the Norwegian Specification laid open for public inspectionNo. 121 016 and is characterized in that a waterproof sheet or the likeis place d in the gap, running from the waterproof layer, over theinsulating material below the terrace floor, upwards through the gap andup inside the facing of the exterior wall above.

This represents a simple and inexpensive solution, as it is notnecessary to secure the waterproof sheet or the like by casting or tosecure it to the terrace floor in a watertight manner. In connectionwith this solution it is not necessary to take measures to prevent waterfrom penetrating through the gap to the base of the terrace floor, sinceit is effectively prevented from contact with such materials of thestructure that are not waterproof.

An especially preferably. embodiment of the invention is characterizedin that waterproof sheet beneath the terrace floor is integral with thesheet in the gap, that the sheet is secured by casting or otherwise tocross walls supporting the terrace floor and is somewhat decliningoutwards and that there is a space between the outside wall of the gapand the sheet forming a watercourse between the terrace floor and thesheet arranged underneath.

According to the invention a structure has thus been created whicheliminates or at least reduces the number of joints of the waterproofmembrane underneath the terrace floor. As a consequence, the risk ofleakage is considerably reduced, and the risk of dampness penetratingdownwards and/or of leakage from the upper concrete cross-wall to thecross wall below, between apartments is practically eliminated. At thesame time the structure has been considerably simplified and thepossibility of flaws has practically been eliminated.

The outer portion of the terrace floor represents a cold zone where snowand-ice barriers may occur, preventing water from draining off when suchbarriers lie along the outer edge of the terrace floor. On the otherhand, discharge along the inner edge of the terrace floor will never beprevented by ice, when there is water on the terrace, because the inneredge of the terrace is placed above the warm apartment situated below,and heat from said apartment will always melt any ice within this innerdrain before any water worth mentioning can collect on the terraceitself. In connection with the solution according to the presentinvention the storm-water drain along the inner terrace edge will thusprevent water from rising to such a level on the terrace that it couldpenetrate into the apartment, the water having free access through thegap or the storm-water drain and being guided along the plastic sheetbeneath the terrace floor out towards the terrace of the floor below andthen in the same manner from terrace to terrace down towards the ground.

An important feature of the invention is as follows:

In the previously known solutions the waterproof layer beneath theterrace floor was interrupted by the concrete wall between the separateterrace. Thus, water could be drawn or absorbed from a higher terracevia the monolitic concrete wall which forms a partition wall between theapartments on the lower story and could there result in annoyingproblems of dampness or even in leakages in case of flaws in thecasting. This risk of wandering dampness and/or leakage is eliminatedaccording to the invention because the watertight layer is continuedunbroken through the concrete wall so as to form a continuous,watertight membrane along the entire length of the building.

The structure according to the invention can be produced in anespecially simple manner. Thus, the plastic sheet can be placed directlyin the formwork. According to the previously known solutions the terracefloor was cast at first, whereafter the plastic sheet or the membranewas secured up to and along the finished concrete walls and roofs. Thismethod in itself presents problems as well as being time consuming andcomparably expensive. Also the above mentioned possibility of wanderingdampness via the concrete itself from a higher terrace downwards to theapartment below is obvious. The structure according to the inventionautomatically provides a drain channel in the base of the terrace floorwhen the formwork has been removed and the plastic sheet has beenloosened from the hardened concrete. .The plastic sheet can be loosenedfrom the concrete roof simply be inserting a rod or the like between thesheet and the concrete.

The sheet can be a thick plastic having grooves. The grooves arepreferably placed perpendicular to the outer edges of the terrace floorand will thus contribute to an especially effective drainage ofcollected water.

Thus, according to the invention a structure is achieved which istechnically better than the known structures as well as enabling ustobuild houses in a simpler and thus a less expensive manner.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to anembodiment shown in the drawings, where FIG. 1 shows a vertical sectionthrough a terrace floor according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a detail of FIG. 1 in a larger scale,

FIG. 3 shows a partial section through the terrace floor, the floorinside and the insulation underneath,

FIG. 4 shows a section along the line A-A in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 shows indetail a formwork formed as a knife for providing the gap between theconcrete floor in the apartment and the terrace floor.

FIG. 1 shows a sitting room floor 1 of concrete and a terrace floor 2 ofconcrete, which has been cast declining outwards and is separated formthe sitting room floor l by a gap. The exterior wall 3 above the sittingroom floor 1 is arranged so as to make its outside run flush with thegap between the floors 1 and 2 respectively. The exterior wall of theapartment below is marked 4, and 5 is the insulating layer beneath theterrace floor. In the present embodiment the waterproof layer 6 consistsof a plastic sheet running from a dampproof sheet (not shown) inside theexterior wall 4 beneath the insulating layer 5 and from there to the topof said layer where it runsdeclining towards the'outside of the'exterior wall 4. Between the sheet 6 on top of the insulating layer andthe bottom surface of the terrace floor 2 is an air space 7 with freeaccess to the atmosphere outside the building.

According to the invention a waterproof sheet or the like 8 runs fromthe waterproof layer 6 upwards through the gap between the floor 1 andthe floor 2 and upwards inside the facing of the external wall 3. In theshown embodiment the exterior wall runs flush with the gap between thefloors 1 and 2, but this is obviously not necessary. The gap is providedwith an insulating material 9, preferably a fire resistant material,e.g., rock wool. Said insulating material is covered by a flexible,waterproof jointing compound 10. In this way, water is to a high degreeprevented from penetrating down through the gap to the underside of theterrace floor. In case of a' leakage, forinstance because of damage,however, water penetrating into said gap will be guided by thewaterproof sheet 8 down towards the waterproof layer 6, where the waterwill evaporate and disappear into the atmosphere outside of the exteriorwall4. I l

By filling the gap with "a flexible material one achieves the advantagethat it cannot be damaged due to changes of the gap dimensions as aconsequence of variations of the temperature of the building. Suchdamages occurred in connection with the known solutions involving use ofaeroconcrete or other porous and brittle materials for insulation.

By placing said gap flush with the outer edge of the exterior wall abovea simple solution is achieved, compared with the known technique,according to which the wall was placed above the gap which isstructurally more complicated. The watertight sheet or the like can thusrun straight downwards along the outside of the exterior wall and oneside of the gap, and it is not necessary to bend the sheet.

In FIG. 3 a terrace floor of concrete 21 is supported by cross walls 22.The floor 21 and the walls 22 form a grating, which is cast as anindependent unit and-heat insulated towards the supporting structures ofthe concrete building, as represented by the concrete floor 23. 24 isthe external wall of the apartment and 25 is the heat insulating layerbetween the terrace floor. and the apartment below. 26 is a membrane inthe form of a plastic sheet, although other watertight materials canobviously be used instead. The membrane 26 runs upwards beneath theouter panel of the lower part of the exterior wall 24, continuesapproximately vertically through a comparably narrow gap between theterrace floor 21 and the concrete floor 23 of the apartment and runssloping between the insulating material 25 and the terrace floor 21 tothe patio of the apartment below. There is, thus, an intermediate space27 so that water flowing down inside the terrace floor or possibly Asshown in FIG. 4, the sheet 26 on both sides can pass through the crosswall 22, so that the sheets .overlap in each terrace section. Due to itsown weight, or possibly by the arrangement of a ledge 28 forming adistance means between the sheet and the terrace floor near thepartition walls, the sheet will form a groove so that any leakagebetween two adjacent sheets is prevented.

The sheet may be nailed to a ledge 29 upmost on the exterior wall24" toform a larmier.

Furthermore, a recess 30 can be provided in the partitions betweenthezterrace sections down at the upper edge of the interior floor andnear the exterior wall 24. Any local damming up can thus be prevented byoverflow into adjacent sections.

The structure according to FIGS. 3 and 4 can be achieved in anespecially simple manner. The sheet 26 can be placed on the bottom ofthe formwork for the terrace floor 21 and the floor 23. A formwork 31shaped as a knife (FIG. 5) is provided to form said gap between theterrace floor and the apartment floor, and the sheet 26 runs upwardsalong one side of the formwork 31. Then the terrace floor and theconcrete floor of the apartment are cast and when the formwork has beenremoved, the plastic sheet, which adheres badly to concrete, is loosenedfrom the concrete, -whereafter in a manner known per se, so that thesheet descendsv outwards.

The gap between the terrace floor and the cover inside is preferablyfilled with jointing compound in an area around the partition walls.Thus, security against leakage in the overlap area of two adjacentsheets is enhanced.

Even though it is stated in connection with the present embodiment thatthe sheet is joined by overlap at the cross walls, it is obviouslywithin the scope of the invention to use a sheet running continuouslythrough two or more terrace sections.

What we claim is:

1. A terrace floor arrangement for a building having a set back story,said arrangement comprising:

a lower apartment 5 a setback upper apartment above said lowerapartment;

a. terrace floor located above said lower apartment and in front of anouter wall of said upper apartment, said terrace floor being separatedfrom the floor of said upper apartment by a gap;

a'layer of thermal insulation located underneath said terrace floor andabove the lower apartment;

a first waterproof layer located above said layer of thermal insulationfor collecting water which might penetrate down through said terracefloor, said layer of thermal insulation and said first waterproof layerbeing positioned such that a space in free communication with theatmosphere exists with the atmosphere outside the building,

said first waterproof layer being declined such that any collected wateron its top surface is drained off; and p a second waterproof layerextending upwardly from said first waterproof layer through said gapbetween said terrace floor and said upper apartment floor, and up intosaid outer wall of said upper apartment, said second waterproof layerbeing positioned behind the facing of said outer wall of said upperapartment.

2. An arrangement as stated in claim 1 wherein a fireproof insulatingmaterial (9) is placed in the gap in the floor and is covered on top bya flexible waterproof jointing compound (10).

3. An arrangement as stated in claim 1 wherein said gap between theterrace floor and the floor in the upper apartment runs flush with theouter surface of the outer wall of said upper apartment.

4. An arrangement as stated in claim 1 wherein said first waterprooflayer below the terrace floor is integral with the second waterprooflayer in the gap, said integral waterproof layer being secured bycasting or otherwise to cross walls supporting the terrace floor a spacebeing formed between the outside wall of the gap and the waterprooflayer forming a watercourse between the terrace floor and the waterprooflayer arranged underneath.

S. An arrangement as stated in claim 4, for the separate terracesections for each storey continue a little further than the oppositeside of the partition wall between the terrace sections so that twoadjacent sheets overlap in said partition walls and for a distance oneach side of them.

6. An arrangement as stated in claim 4 wherein a spacing means issecured between the waterproof layer and the terrace floor in the areaof the exterior wall of said lower apartment at least near the crosswalls.

7. An arrangement as stated in claim 4 further including a recess formedin the cross wall between two adjacent terrace sections, the lower edgeof which recess is flush with the terrace floor and is near said gap.

8. A method of constructing a terrace floor arrangement for a buildinghaving a set back story comprising the steps of: cross walls providing alower apartment having a floor and a ceiling; providing an upperapartment above and set back of said lower apartment, said upperapartment including an outer wall; providing formwork for casting aterrace floor above said ceiling of said lower apartment and in frontofthe floor of said upper apartment, a waterproof layer being provided onsaid formwork with a first portion over said ceiling of said lowerapartment and a second portion extending upwardly adjacent the outerwall of said upper apartment and into said outer wall in such a way asto lie behind the outer facing of said outer wall; casting said terracefloor in said formwork wherein a gap is formed between said terracefloor and the floor of said upper paartment, said second portion of saidwaterproof layer extending through said p; disengaging said waterprooflayer from the cast terrace floor; and positioning said first portion ofsaid waterproof layer below said cast terrace floor such that a space isprovided therebetween in free communication with the atmosphere outsidesaid building. 9. A method as stated in claim 8 wherein said formworkincludes a portion shaped as a knife said second waterproof layerportion being supported by the formwork shaped as a knife.

10. A method as stated in claim 8 wherein said waterproof layer isplaced in the formwork overlapping in the area where cross walls betweenthe terrace sections are placed.

1. A terrace floor arrangement for a building having a set back story,said arrangement comprising: a lower apartment; a set back upperapartment above said lower apartment; a terrace floor located above saidlower apartment and in front of an outer wall of said upper apartment,said terrace floor being separated from the floor of said upperapartment by a gap; a layer of thermal insulation located underneathsaid terrace floor and above the lower apartment; a first waterprooflayer located above said layer of thermal insulation for collectingwater which might penetrate down through said terrace floor, said layerof thermal insulation and said first waterproof layer being positionedsuch that a space in free communication with the atmosphere exists withthe atmosphere outside the building, said first waterproof layer beingdeclined such that any collected water on its top surface is drainedoff; and a second waterproof layer extending upwardly from said firstwaterproof layer through said gap between said terrace floor and saidupper apartment floor, and up into said outer wall of said upperapartment, said second waterproof layer being positioned behind thefacing of said outer wall of said upper apartment.
 2. An arrangement asstated in claim 1 wherein a fireproof insulating material (9) is placedin the gap in the floor and is covered on top by a flexible waterproofjointing compound (1o).
 3. An arrangement as stated in claim 1 whereinsaid gap between the terrace floor and the floor in the upper apartmentruns flush with the outer surface of the outer wall of said upperapartment.
 4. An arrangement as stated in claim 1 wherein said firstwaterproof layer below the terrace floor is integral with the secondwaterproof layer in the gap, said integral waterproof layer beingsecured by casting or otherwise to cross walls supporting the terracefloor a space being formed between the outside wall of the gap and thewaterproof layer forming a watercourse between the terrace floor and thewaterproof layer arranged underneath.
 5. An arrangement as stated inclaim 4, for the separate terrace sections for each storey continue alittle further than the opposite side of the partition wall between theterrace sections so that two adjacent sheets overlap in said partitionwalls and for a distance on each side of them.
 6. An arrangement asstated in claim 4 wherein a spacing means is secured between thewaterproof layer and the terrace floor in the area of the exterior wallof said lower apartment at least near the cross walls.
 7. An arrangementas stated in claim 4 further including a recess formed in the cross wallbetween two adjacent terrace sections, the lower edge of which recess isflush with the terrace floor and is near said gap.
 8. A method ofconstructing a terrace floor arrangement for a building having a setback story comprising the steps of: cross walls providing a lowErapartment having a floor and a ceiling; providing an upper apartmentabove and set back of said lower apartment, said upper apartmentincluding an outer wall; providing formwork for casting a terrace floorabove said ceiling of said lower apartment and in front of the floor ofsaid upper apartment, a waterproof layer being provided on said formworkwith a first portion over said ceiling of said lower apartment and asecond portion extending upwardly adjacent the outer wall of said upperapartment and into said outer wall in such a way as to lie behind theouter facing of said outer wall; casting said terrace floor in saidformwork wherein a gap is formed between said terrace floor and thefloor of said upper paartment, said second portion of said waterprooflayer extending through said gap; disengaging said waterproof layer fromthe cast terrace floor; and positioning said first portion of saidwaterproof layer below said cast terrace floor such that a space isprovided therebetween in free communication with the atmosphere outsidesaid building.
 9. A method as stated in claim 8 wherein said formworkincludes a portion shaped as a knife said second waterproof layerportion being supported by the formwork shaped as a knife.
 10. A methodas stated in claim 8 wherein said waterproof layer is placed in theformwork overlapping in the area where cross walls between the terracesections are placed.